Interview: Peter Temes
by
Chris Cumo
Peter Temes received his B.A. in literature and philosophy
at the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1988.
After graduation he attended Columbia University, where he
earned an MFA in creative writing in 1989, an M.A. in literature
in 1990, an M.Phil. in 1992 and a Ph.D. in American literature
in 1994. He taught writing about history at Harvard University
as a preceptor, Harvard’s most junior full-time appointment.
His income of $27,000 was insufficient to support a wife and
three children, and he had to supplement his teaching at Harvard
by being an adjunct at local colleges and community colleges.
After three years of this lifestyle, with little time for
research and for the preparation of lectures, he was becoming
bitter and knew the time was right to leave academe. For five
years he ran his own Internet consulting firm, recruiting
clients ranging from small Internet start-up companies to
multinational investment banking firms. His business flourished,
but Temes felt restless. He wanted to return to the world
of ideas, a goal he accomplished by becoming president of
the Great Books Foundation.
TAA: You were once a preceptor at Harvard. Did you aspire
to a career in academe, and why did you leave it for the Great
Books Foundation?
Temes: I did. There was a race between my slow progress toward
a tenure-track position and my family’s demand for money.
Although I was full-time as preceptor, it was the most junior
grade, and I was paid accordingly. I had to supplement my
pay by teaching at local colleges. This work left me no time
for scholarship. I had expected a trade-off: I would be paid
less, but I would live the academic lifestyle with time for
pursuing my own intellectual interests. That never happened,
and I became increasingly frustrated as an academic. I knew
I liked to sell myself as an adjunct, as a lecturer, and I
figured that if I had to sell myself I might as well make
some real money.
TAA: Do you have any regrets about leaving Harvard? If so
what are they?
Temes: None. I had a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education
that told the story of why I left academe. The decision was
very emotional. I felt like I was closing the door on the
career I had always wanted. I had a difficult time seeing
myself as anything but an academic. I had developed the myopia
that is so common in this profession. Like many academics
I feared that I couldn’t find fulfilling work outside the
academy. But I discovered that this wasn’t true. What I do
now, I do with greater intellectual honesty and with a closer
connection to ordinary people than I had every known as an
academic.
TAA: What intellectual challenges does your work at the Great
Books Foundation provide that were absent from your work at
Harvard?
Temes: At the Great Books Foundation I can reach a big audience.
The foundation serves more than 30,000 adults, 50,000 teachers
and one million children. This scale is larger than anything
I could attempt at Harvard. The challenges here are numerous.
I help write the booklets we publish, and I’m involved in
our curriculum. At the foundation I have to strike a balance
between making our participants happy and giving them substance.
If we can’t find works of literature that are fabulous and
great, and that engage readers, we have failed.
TAA: How has your training as an academic helped you at the
Great Books Foundation?
Temes: I was really surprised by how much what I learned
in academe helped me in business. Most decisions are made
around the conference table. I found that I was in my natural
environment, being the product of graduate seminars at Columbia,
which taught me how to establish a dialogue with colleagues,
how to craft a persuasive argument, how to interact with others
in a professional setting.
TAA: Describe the transition from academe to the Great Books
Foundation. Was the adjustment difficult for you?
Temes: This is a regular job. I commute to work from the
suburbs to the 23rd floor of a big office. I can’t go home
for lunch. The big difference between business and academe
is that in business it’s less important to be right than it
is to get people pulling in the same direction. In academe
there is a lot of posturing, of claiming the moral high ground
at all costs. This approach doesn’t work in business. It doesn’t
work all that well in academe, either.
TAA: What advice would you give adjuncts who are thinking
of leaving the university for a career in business or government?
Temes: Be brave. There is much more out there that is intellectually
satisfying than most people realize. I suspect that there
are a lot of academics who are hanging onto lousy jobs because
they’re afraid to leave the academy. Anyone who loves teaching
should know that there are lots of other ways to teach. Anyone
who loves the life of a scholar should know that there are
other careers that provide intellectual challenges.
TAA: What skills are readily transferable from academe to
the private sector? What skills are not?
Temes: The ability to communicate, to listen and to think
clearly. To these skills academics bring a streak of independence,
a quality unique in the business world. Those academics who
have learned to be a little less prickly find that they can
make contributions to business. The question one must ask
is: what do I really want? There are always more positions
than most people think.
TAA: If you were to write a job-seeker’s manual for the newly
minted Ph.D., what, in brief, would be its contents?
Temes: The first chapter would be: know thyself. What do
you like to do? What are your talents? What keeps you up until
midnight on your own initiative? The second chapter would
be: know the world. Know what jobs are out there. Find out
what it’s like to be a consultant, to be a corporate trainer,
to be a teacher at an elite private academy. The final chapter
would stress the power of change. True, the world is as it
is, and you are who you are, but within this framework anything
is possible.
TAA: Given the dearth of academic jobs, the National Academy
of Sciences is advocating a “value-added Ph.D.” From your
perspective at the Great Books Foundation, does this approach
make sense?
Temes: Any program that offers five ways to become a professional
is better than a program that offers only one way. Ph.D. programs
need to acknowledge that there are more opportunities out
there than just academe.
TAA: Some academics have been reluctant to acknowledge the
legitimacy of careers outside the university. What has led
to this attitude, and what will it take to change it?
Temes: I’ve felt this attitude. I’ve always had a desire
to succeed in the world, and for a long time I defined academe
as my world. I wanted to impress my professors and graduate-school
buddies. The perception is that the better Ph.D. programs
are at the elite institutions, that when you have succeeded
you have met a very high standard. But since leaving Harvard
I’ve learned that there are multiple standards of elite. The
best in the business world are better than the weakest among
academics.
TAA: The private sector has traditionally appreciated the
value of Ph.D.s in the sciences and engineering fields but
has been slow to acknowledge the value of a Ph.D. in the humanities.
Is this view mistaken? If so, how can it be changed?
Temes: I’m not sure I agree. A Ph.D. in the humanities says
something very specific about someone. It says a person is
capable of original research at a very high level. It says
a person has tremendous intellectual resources and a tremendous
capacity for suffering. Ph.D.s in science and engineering
are often quite narrow.
TAA: The phrase “alternative careers” implies the notion
of settling for a job that is less desirable than one in academe.
Do we need a new vocabulary to describe careers outside academe?
Temes: Maybe. What is essential is that academics understand
that many jobs outside academe have as much challenge and
prestige as academic posts. I have all I ever wanted at the
Great Books Foundation. I teach as much as any senior professor
at a research university. I teach one course per term at The
University of Illinois at Chicago. I’m far more satisfied
running an institution than I was driving everywhere to teach.
